Nutritional and morphological diversity of breadfruit ( Artocarpus, Moraceae): Identification of elite cultivars for food security

Abstract

Breadfruit ( Artocarpus altilis) is an underutilized staple crop developed over thousands of years by the indigenous peoples of Oceania. The current study evaluated protein and mineral content, fruit morphology and flour production in 94 cultivars of breadfruit grown within a single location at the National Tropical Botanical Garden in Hawaii. Across the cultivars, fruit weight ranged from 0.47–3.54 kg, the edible portion of the fruit after seeds, skin and core were removed ranged from 0.30 to 3.11 kg and the average protein content varied from 2.7 to 6.2% by dry weight. Depending on the cultivar, the fruit contained on a dry weight basis 283–1491 μg/g Ca, 3.6–31 ng/g Co, 1.1–5.6 μg/g Cu, 6.2–21.2 μg/g Fe, 7.5–16.2 mg/g K, 630–2281 μg/g Mg, 70–843 μg/g Na, 846–2379 μg/g P, and 1.5–10.7 μg/g Zn, representing significantly more calcium, cobalt, iron, potassium, and magnesium, comparable phosphorous, and slightly lower manganese and zinc than refined wheat, rice and corn flours. Together, these data are indicative of the high degree of phenotypic diversity of cultivated varieties of breadfruit and the potential for identification of individual cultivars that are particularly good sources of mineral and protein nutrition.